Former President Donald Trump Saturday slammed “Fake News and stories” being reported about him in connection with recent fundraising activities, claiming that “anything positive does not get reported” where he is concerned.
“The story is Fake News about my plane being “mothballed” in Stewart Airfield in Newburgh, New York, because ‘I didn’t think I would need it until 2025,’” Trump said in the press release, issued through his Save America PAC.
“My plane, a Boeing 757, is going through a major scheduled maintenance program, which will be completed in approximately 90 days. It will then be put back into service. I was not allowed to use it during the Presidency, and didn’t.”
That comment came in the wake of articles detailing a fundraising request for supporters to help him with the purchase of a new plane.
The fundraising emails went out after a private jet in which Trump was traveling on March 5 lost power in one of its three engines after leaving New Orleans’ Lakefront Airport while flying over the Gulf of Mexico, forcing an emergency landing at Louis Armstrong International Airport, reports NOLA.com.
He was on the plane after a meeting and speech with GOP donors in New Orleans.
“My team is building a BRAND NEW Trump Force One,” an email to supporters from Trump’s Save America PAC said. “I can’t wait to unveil it for everyone to see. The construction of this plane has been under wraps. Not even the fake news media knows about it – and I can’t wait to unveil it for everyone to see.”
The request did not mention the engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico.
Meanwhile, the campaign plane Trump used to travel in his 2016 presidential campaign remains at the Stewart Air Field in New York, where media reports said it is “mothballed” and needs extensive repairs.
According to a January 2021 report in The Daily Mail, Trump’s $100 million Boeing 757-200, which he used in the 2016 campaign, has been in storage at the airfield since 2019, and needs significant repairs.
Jon Ostrower, editor in chief of The Air Current, reported at the time that the plane was grounded because an engine needed to be replaced, The Daily Mail said.
Ostrower had also tweeted in December 2020 that a tipster told him the plane wasn’t kept as service-ready because Trump “didn’t think he’d need it again for another four years.”
“Such Fake News and stories about me on Google. Anything positive does not get reported,” Trump said in his statement. “Even the NELK Boys record-setting interview with me was taken down because I told the TRUTH, which the Radical Left cannot handle. The Media and Big Tech is doing everything possible to destroy our Country. They are truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”
In another statement, Trump spoke out against reports indicating that a winner was not picked in a contest that said a donor and their family would win a dinner with him.
“A winner from Save America PAC WAS chosen for dinner and that winner, and family, will soon be coming to Palm Beach, Florida. Reporting by the Washington Post was inaccurate and, Fake News. These arrangements were handled directly by President Trump’s representatives.”
The Post reported Friday that the PAC sent out at least 15 emails in recent weeks offering donors who contributed any amount to have dinner with Trump last Saturday in New Orleans, but that nobody was picked.
The newspaper, quoting four people said to be familiar with the matter, said that there was no hotel booked, as promised in the email, and that Trump had no individual meetings with any small-dollar donors, but instead greeted large-amount GOP donors and spoke to a group who had each given donations of tens of thousands of dollars.
